Games for Environmental Change

Whats the project about

Nature and human use of its resources cause many conflicts all over the world. So far, the trade-offs involved have mainly been the subject of qualitative discussions on how to find some kind of acceptable compromise. The outcome of these discussions is often strongly biased, depending on the strength of the actors, with those representing the economic side often having the upper hand. There are also some more quantitative and mathematical approaches (e.g. optimization theory). Although they offer an opportunity for a more objective outcome, they quickly become very complex problems to solve mathematically and are dependent on the details of how the problem is formulated.

One approach that has not been explored much to date is to view land-use conflicts as a ‘game’. Games have the potential to contain many variables and complex sets of relationships that can help players better understand the effects of the choices made by different land managers and decision makers. To set up such a game requires expertise in both game design and specific knowledge of the land use conflict itself. Through effective design and visualisation, games can help raise awareness and provide valuable insights to those who are not specialists in the field.

Globally, widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, land, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole – and the present state of many aspects of the climate system – are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years. Humans interfere with nature constantly through various land-use change, leading to conflicts over how resources should be used.

If you want to help understand how these changes effects our lives and/ or our planet, this may be the project for you. We challenge you to make an informative game about a land-use conflict related to the Region in Germany where Osnabrück is situated.

Study areas

While students may have a specific study area, e.g. Environmental science, Game design, Programming, Basic Ecology, Design or Mutlimedia, Social science (human behaviour and the consequences for society), we aim to get a team that has a combination if different skills.  
A dream team will have all three elements; 

• Game design experience. Since this part is crucial to this project.
• Environmental science students who understand the mechanisms causing change and what the effects are on our   environment.  
• Design skills, the actual game involves a lot of designing, mostly individual elements/parts of the game but also overall design.

Contact

Jennie Sandström, Mid Sweden University

Paul van den Brink, Mid Sweden University

Bege Jonsson, Mid Sweden University

Marianne Bossema,  Hogeschool van Amsterdam